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A '''woman''' (irregular plural: women) is a [[female]] [[human]]. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights".
==Etymology==
The [[English]] term "Man" (from Proto-Germanic mannaz "man, [[person]]") and [[words]] derived therefrom can designate any or even all of the human [[race]] regardless of their [[sex]] or age. This is the old usage of "Man" in English. It derives from Proto-Indo-European *mánu- 'man, human', cognate to [[Sanskrit]] manu, Old Church Slavonic mǫžĭ, 'man', 'husband'.
In Old English the words wer and wyf (also wæpman and wifman) were used to refer to "a man" and "a woman" respectively, and "Man" was gender-neutral. In Middle English man displaced wer as term for "male human", whilst wifman (which eventually evolved into woman) was retained for "female human". ("Wif" also evolved into the word "wife".) "Man" carries this old sense of "Human" however, resulting in an [[asymmetry]] criticized as sexist.[1]
A very common Indo-European root for woman, *gwen-, is the source of [[English]] queen (Old English cwēn primarily meant woman, highborn or not; this is still the case in Danish, with the modern spelling kvinde), as well as gynaecology (from Greek gynē), banshee fairy woman (from Irish bean woman, sí fairy) and zenana (from Persian zan). The [[Latin]] fēmina, whence female, is likely from the root in fellāre (to suck), referring to breastfeeding.[2][3]
The symbol for the planet Venus is the sign also used in biology for the female sex. It is a stylized representation of the [[goddess]] Venus's hand mirror or an abstract [[symbol]] for the goddess: a [[circle]] with a small equilateral cross underneath (Unicode: ♀). The Venus symbol also represented [[femininity]], and in ancient [[alchemy]] stood for copper. Alchemists constructed the symbol from a circle (representing [[spirit]]) above an equilateral cross (representing [[matter]]).
==Terminology==
'''Womanhood''' is the period in a female's life after she has transitioned from girlhood, at least [[physical]]ly, having passed the age of [menarche]. Many [[culture]]s have [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rites_of_passage rites of passage] to symbolize a woman's coming of age, such as confirmation in some branches of [[Christianity]], bat mitzvah in [[Judaism]], or even just the custom of a special celebration for a certain birthday (generally between 12 and 21).
The word woman can be used generally, to mean any female human, or specifically, to mean an adult female human as contrasted with girl. The word girl originally meant "young [[person]] of either [[sex]]" in [[English]]; it was only around the beginning of the 16th century that it came to mean specifically a female child. Nowadays girl sometimes is used colloquially to refer to a young or unmarried woman. During the early 1970s feminists challenged such use, and use of the word to refer to a fully grown woman may cause offence. In particular, previously common terms such as office girl are no longer used.
Conversely, in certain cultures which link [[family]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor honor] with female [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginity virginity], the word girl is still used to refer to a never-married woman; in this sense it is used in a [[fashion]] roughly [[analogous]] to the obsolete English maid or maiden. Referring to an unmarried female as a woman may, in such a culture, imply that she is sexually experienced, which would be an insult to her family.
In some settings, the use of girl to refer to an adult female is a common [[practice]] (such as girls' night out), even among some elderly women. In this sense, ''girl'' may be considered to be the analogue to the British word ''bloke'' for a man, although it again fails to meet the parallel [[status]] as an adult. Gal aside, some feminists cite this lack of an informal yet respectful term for women as misogynistic; they regard non-parallel usages, such as men and girls, as sexist.
There are various words used to refer to the [[quality]] of being a woman. The term "womanhood" merely means the [[state]] of being a woman, having passed the menarche; "femininity" is used to refer to a set of supposedly typical female qualities associated with a certain attitude to [[gender]] roles; "womanliness" is like "femininity", but is usually associated with a [[different]] view of gender roles; "femaleness" is a general term, but is often used as shorthand for "human femaleness"; "distaff" is an archaic adjective derived from women's conventional role as a spinner, now used only as a deliberate archaism; "muliebrity" is a neologism (derived from the [[Latin]]) meant to provide a female counterpart of "virility", but used very loosely, sometimes to mean merely "womanhood", sometimes "femininity" and sometimes even as a collective term for women.
==Further reading==
*Chafe, William H., "The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, And Political Roles, 1920-1970", Oxford University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-19-501785-4
*Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003 3rd edition) ISBN 0-618-25414-5
*McWhorter, John. 'The Uses of Ugliness', The New Republic Online, January 31, 2002. Retrieved May 11, 2005 ["bitch" as an affectionate term]
*McWhorter, John. Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority (New York: Gotham, 2003) ISBN 1-59240-001-9 [casual use of "bitch" in ebonics]
Routledge international encyclopedia of women, 4 vls., ed. by Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender, Routledge 2000
*Women in world history : a biographical encyclopedia, 17 vls., ed. by Anne Commire, Waterford, Conn. [etc.] : Yorkin Publ. [etc.], 1999 - 2002
==References==
# man - definition Dictionary.reference.com
# queen - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Bartleby.com
# female - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Bartleby.com
# "Why is life expectancy longer for women than it is for men?". Scientific American. 2004-08-30. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
# Menarche and menstruation are absent in many of the intersex and transgender conditions mentioned above and also in primary amenorrhea.
# Education Levels Rising in OECD Countries but Low Attainment Still Hampers Some, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Publication Date: 14/09/2004. Retrieved December 2006.
# Women in Scientific Careers: Unleashing the Potential, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, ISBN 92-64-02537-5, Publication Date: 20/11/2006. Retrieved December 2006.
==External links==
* [http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm Women's History in America]
;Religion
* [http://www.helsinki.fi/science/xantippa/wee/wee26.html Women and Christianity: representations and practices]
* [http://www.islamfortoday.com/women.htm Women in Islam]
[[Category: Sociology]]
[[Category: Psychology]]
A '''woman''' (irregular plural: women) is a [[female]] [[human]]. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights".
==Etymology==
The [[English]] term "Man" (from Proto-Germanic mannaz "man, [[person]]") and [[words]] derived therefrom can designate any or even all of the human [[race]] regardless of their [[sex]] or age. This is the old usage of "Man" in English. It derives from Proto-Indo-European *mánu- 'man, human', cognate to [[Sanskrit]] manu, Old Church Slavonic mǫžĭ, 'man', 'husband'.
In Old English the words wer and wyf (also wæpman and wifman) were used to refer to "a man" and "a woman" respectively, and "Man" was gender-neutral. In Middle English man displaced wer as term for "male human", whilst wifman (which eventually evolved into woman) was retained for "female human". ("Wif" also evolved into the word "wife".) "Man" carries this old sense of "Human" however, resulting in an [[asymmetry]] criticized as sexist.[1]
A very common Indo-European root for woman, *gwen-, is the source of [[English]] queen (Old English cwēn primarily meant woman, highborn or not; this is still the case in Danish, with the modern spelling kvinde), as well as gynaecology (from Greek gynē), banshee fairy woman (from Irish bean woman, sí fairy) and zenana (from Persian zan). The [[Latin]] fēmina, whence female, is likely from the root in fellāre (to suck), referring to breastfeeding.[2][3]
The symbol for the planet Venus is the sign also used in biology for the female sex. It is a stylized representation of the [[goddess]] Venus's hand mirror or an abstract [[symbol]] for the goddess: a [[circle]] with a small equilateral cross underneath (Unicode: ♀). The Venus symbol also represented [[femininity]], and in ancient [[alchemy]] stood for copper. Alchemists constructed the symbol from a circle (representing [[spirit]]) above an equilateral cross (representing [[matter]]).
==Terminology==
'''Womanhood''' is the period in a female's life after she has transitioned from girlhood, at least [[physical]]ly, having passed the age of [menarche]. Many [[culture]]s have [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rites_of_passage rites of passage] to symbolize a woman's coming of age, such as confirmation in some branches of [[Christianity]], bat mitzvah in [[Judaism]], or even just the custom of a special celebration for a certain birthday (generally between 12 and 21).
The word woman can be used generally, to mean any female human, or specifically, to mean an adult female human as contrasted with girl. The word girl originally meant "young [[person]] of either [[sex]]" in [[English]]; it was only around the beginning of the 16th century that it came to mean specifically a female child. Nowadays girl sometimes is used colloquially to refer to a young or unmarried woman. During the early 1970s feminists challenged such use, and use of the word to refer to a fully grown woman may cause offence. In particular, previously common terms such as office girl are no longer used.
Conversely, in certain cultures which link [[family]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor honor] with female [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginity virginity], the word girl is still used to refer to a never-married woman; in this sense it is used in a [[fashion]] roughly [[analogous]] to the obsolete English maid or maiden. Referring to an unmarried female as a woman may, in such a culture, imply that she is sexually experienced, which would be an insult to her family.
In some settings, the use of girl to refer to an adult female is a common [[practice]] (such as girls' night out), even among some elderly women. In this sense, ''girl'' may be considered to be the analogue to the British word ''bloke'' for a man, although it again fails to meet the parallel [[status]] as an adult. Gal aside, some feminists cite this lack of an informal yet respectful term for women as misogynistic; they regard non-parallel usages, such as men and girls, as sexist.
There are various words used to refer to the [[quality]] of being a woman. The term "womanhood" merely means the [[state]] of being a woman, having passed the menarche; "femininity" is used to refer to a set of supposedly typical female qualities associated with a certain attitude to [[gender]] roles; "womanliness" is like "femininity", but is usually associated with a [[different]] view of gender roles; "femaleness" is a general term, but is often used as shorthand for "human femaleness"; "distaff" is an archaic adjective derived from women's conventional role as a spinner, now used only as a deliberate archaism; "muliebrity" is a neologism (derived from the [[Latin]]) meant to provide a female counterpart of "virility", but used very loosely, sometimes to mean merely "womanhood", sometimes "femininity" and sometimes even as a collective term for women.
==Further reading==
*Chafe, William H., "The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, And Political Roles, 1920-1970", Oxford University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-19-501785-4
*Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003 3rd edition) ISBN 0-618-25414-5
*McWhorter, John. 'The Uses of Ugliness', The New Republic Online, January 31, 2002. Retrieved May 11, 2005 ["bitch" as an affectionate term]
*McWhorter, John. Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority (New York: Gotham, 2003) ISBN 1-59240-001-9 [casual use of "bitch" in ebonics]
Routledge international encyclopedia of women, 4 vls., ed. by Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender, Routledge 2000
*Women in world history : a biographical encyclopedia, 17 vls., ed. by Anne Commire, Waterford, Conn. [etc.] : Yorkin Publ. [etc.], 1999 - 2002
==References==
# man - definition Dictionary.reference.com
# queen - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Bartleby.com
# female - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Bartleby.com
# "Why is life expectancy longer for women than it is for men?". Scientific American. 2004-08-30. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
# Menarche and menstruation are absent in many of the intersex and transgender conditions mentioned above and also in primary amenorrhea.
# Education Levels Rising in OECD Countries but Low Attainment Still Hampers Some, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Publication Date: 14/09/2004. Retrieved December 2006.
# Women in Scientific Careers: Unleashing the Potential, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, ISBN 92-64-02537-5, Publication Date: 20/11/2006. Retrieved December 2006.
==External links==
* [http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm Women's History in America]
;Religion
* [http://www.helsinki.fi/science/xantippa/wee/wee26.html Women and Christianity: representations and practices]
* [http://www.islamfortoday.com/women.htm Women in Islam]
[[Category: Sociology]]
[[Category: Psychology]]
